Winter Flame
by CelticKitsune
Summary: Dancing around their feelings for each other, Mikey and Raph are stranded by a blizzard. Forced to wait until the morning they must find shelter and keep warm.


The lair was quiet, for once, which in general should have made it easier for him to sneak out, should have made it easier for him to make it to the garage without someone noticing. However, in a house full of trained ninja, the quietness in fact made it difficult, though not impossible. After all, sneaking out was something Raph had done multiple times, so Mikey was confident he too could follow his brother.

Slipping in through Donnie's lab, making his way to the back door and into the garage, Mikey grinned when he saw the bike sitting there, just where Raph had left it when he came home earlier that night.

Glancing nervously behind his shoulder, waiting to see if he had disturbed his family, Mikey's grin widened when there was no sign of movement. He quickly shut the garage the door behind him before hurrying over to the bike that was normally off limits to him.

Reaching out, Mikey ran his fingers over the smooth metal, continuing onto the leather seat. Each piece had been well polished and restored to better than original.

"What the shell do you think you're doing?" Raph's voice demanded and Mikey jumped, snatching his hand back from the bike and whipping around quickly to face his older brother.

"Nothing!" He defended quickly, staring at Raph, who raised an eyeridge at him curiously.

"Right, and I'm going to believe that." Raph rolled his eyes, walking over toward Mikey and shoving him away from the bike, looking it over as if trying to find out what the younger turtle had done to it.

"I swear, I was just looking, bro," Mikey defended himself.

"Sure," Raph said, still sounding skeptical as he turned to look at Mikey.

The orange-banded turtle was looking at him with wide baby-blue eyes that had Raph sighing.

"I wasn't pulling any pranks or anything, I really was just looking," Mikey insisted.

Raph let out a small sigh and shook his head. "Fine, you were just lookin'. Now why were you in here just lookin'?" Raph asked.

Now Mikey looked guilty as he lowered his head, shifting from one foot to the other.

"I uh… I was just going to sit on it… I was just curious, cause you know, you don't let anyone else touch it, and… well, you love your bike so much, and I was thinking I could figure out why," Mikey admitted in a rush.

Raph stood there with an obvious look of shock on his face. Whether it was from Mikey's admission or the surprising honesty the smaller turtle wasn't sure, so he stood there and waited to see how angry his brother was going to be.

"You know," Raph said, lifting his hand and placing it on Mikey's head. "Just sitting on it, that's not the best part, and definitely not the reason I love it so much," Raph admitted.

"Really?" Mikey asked tilting his head curiously.

Raph chuckled shaking his head.

"Not even close," he said, walking over to the table where he kept his helmets.

He picked up two of them, looking as if he was weighing them before he turned and tossed one towards Mikey. The orange-banded turtle caught it easily, staring in surprise at the black and red helmet in his hands.

"Uh, what's this for?" Mikey asked, looking back up towards Raph.

"Don't need fearless yelling at me for not making sure you were safe on this thing," Raph said, grabbing his custom gloves and jacket.

"Wait, you're actually taking me OUT?!" Mikey asked, an excited grin spreading across his face.

"You said you wanted to know why I loved it so much," Raph said with a shrug. "And I was planning on going out for a midnight ride anyway, might as well take someone with me, might keep Leo from biting my tail off later."

Mikey let out a squeal of excitement, practically bouncing in place as Raph started digging around for his second pair of gloves and coat.

"Here, put these on too," he said, tossing them at Mikey next, chuckling when the younger turtle nearly dropped the helmet to catch the coat and missed the gloves completely.

"Is that why you have two sets of everything? In case you want company on your bike?" Mikey asked bending down to grab the gloves and pull them on, blinking when he found they were a perfect fit, thinking it a little strange because he knew for a fact that his brother had bigger hands than he did.

"Nah, those ones were too small for me, and I hate throwin' anything away. I thought they might come in useful someday," Raph dismissed with another shrug of his shoulder as he pulled on his own coat and gloves, before grabbing the second helmet.

The orange-banded turtle watched, almost transfixed by his brother as Raph strode over to the bike, lifted one leg up and over it before straddling the heavy piece of machinery. Raph looked like your stereotype 'bad boy', from the custom helmet, the black leather gloves, and matching jacket. The only thing Mikey thought was missing was perhaps a pair of torn jeans and some kick-ass boots.

Raph flipped the visor to his helmet up, raising an eyeridge at Mikey.

"We ain't goin' anywhere till you put those on." Raph nodded to the items still in Mikey's hands.

"Uh, right." Mikey laughed, pulling on the jacket, followed by the gloves, before he slipped the helmet onto his head, turning to look at Raph again. "How do I look?"

"Like you're playing dress up. Now get your ass on this bike so we can leave." Raph rolled his eyes, slamming his visor down and starting up the bike.

Mikey grinned, darting forward, swinging one leg up and over, the way he had seen Raph do only moments before. However, as he sat on the seat, and his plastron was forced right up against Raph's shell, the younger turtle realized how small the bike seat actually was.

"Hold on tight," Raph ordered.

Nodding, Mikey slid his hands onto Raph's waist. It was impossible to hear Raph's sigh over the sound of the bike but Mikey could assume that was the sound his brother made, since a moment later calloused hands gripped his own, jerking Mikey forward until his arms were wrapped firmly around Raph's waist.

"Like that, now don't let go," Raph instructed.

Mikey was very glad that he was wearing a helmet, as gripping his arms around Raph's middle and being pressed so close to the hot-headed turtle had a blush creeping up into Mikey's cheeks.

The engine revved and Mikey couldn't stop the giggle of giddy excitement that escaped him, feeling the bike starting to move as the door to the garage opened. There was a momentary pause, where Raph glanced in his direction and that was the only warning Mikey had before the garage was filled with the sound of the engine revving loudly, the back tire squealing as the red banded turtle took off at full speed.

Mikey's scream was lost, drowned out by the bike, the honking horns, and the wind blowing by them as they tore out into the city streets.

They weaved through cars, around corners, and even swerved up onto the sidewalk at least once.

And then they were on the highway. Mikey gripped Raph tighter as he felt himself slide backward on the seat slightly.

He was curious about where they were going as they sped down the highway, the bright lights of the city dimming the further they got.

Mikey tilted his head up, watching the sky. He could see the stars now that they were further away from the light pollution of the city. Mikey wanted to ask where they were going but knew that even if Raph could have heard him over the bike, he most likely wouldn't have answered.

The noise of the city faded with the lights, the only sound reaching Mikey's ears was the roar of the bike. He was starting to feel the chill in the air once they were out of the city and the scenery was repetitive but he didn't mind any of that. He was enjoying the rare moment with Raph, where neither of them were fighting, where Raph wasn't screaming at Leo for something.

It was also another rare moment where Mikey didn't feel the need to do something just to get Raph's attention, something he'd been doing a lot recently. Of course, that just irritated Raph even more, and the one on one attention never lasted long.

Squeezing his arms around Raph's middle, resting his head on his brother's shell, Mikey sighed. He simply enjoyed the stolen moment Raph was offering him and silently hoped he didn't do something to ruin this.

-x

"That ride took FOREVER!" Mikey said with a laugh as he climbed off, stretching his arms above his head.

"Sorry, I didn't intend to drive so far," Raph admitted, removing his own helmet and setting it on the handlebar of the bike as he turned it off.

"It's okay, bro, I don't mind. I just need to stretch my legs for a bit before we get back on the bike and head home," Mikey laughed, handing his helmet to Raph, who took it, hanging it on the other side.

"We should probably get warm before we drive back anyway," Raph said, putting the kickstand down before getting off the bike. "Maybe get a fire going."

"Damn, and me without my marshmallows, we could have made smores." Mikey huffed, earning a look from Raph. "What? Fire without marshmallows is just wrong, dude."

"Your brain is like marshmallows," Raph snickered.

"Yeah, but marshmallows taste WAY better than I do," Mikey said as he continued doing a few more stretches, bending down to touch his toes.

Raph cleared his throat. "Yes, well," he trailed off, seemingly at a loss for words.

Mikey paid it no mind however, Raph was a turtle of very few words after all.

"So, where are we going to get the wood?" Mikey asked, still bent over, hands flat on the ground as he continued stretching. When he didn't get an answer from Raph, he spread his legs a little wider so he could look between them to see Raph still standing behind him by the bike. "Raph?"

"What?" Raph asked.

Mikey frowned standing up straight to turn and face his brother properly.

"Wood?" he asked, and when Raph just blinked at him, Mikey frowned deeper. "For the fire? To get warm? Or, are we not doing that now?" he asked, a small pout forming.

"No, fire, right, yes, we're still doing that," Raph said, and turned away quickly, and if Mikey hadn't known better, he would have sworn Raph's cheeks looked a little redder than they had a moment ago.

Mikey jogged after Raph, his red-banded brother heading into the wooded area, gathering up twigs from the ground, discarding some that were too wet or damp to do anything with.

"Let me help," Mikey insisted, picking up some wood, holding it in his arms as he followed Raph around the woods.

"Make sure none of it's damp, or it won't burn properly," Raph instructed.

"And how do I tell if it's to wet?" Mikey asked, looking down at the wood he was carrying.

Raph sighed and came over to stand next to Mikey, taking some of the wood from him and looking it over.

"This right here, the bark is to damp, it will just smother the fire and smoke a lot," Raph said tossing it back to the ground.

"You DO realize there's snow all over the ground around here, everything is going to be a bit wet," Mikey said with a pout as he continued helping as best he could.

"Yeah, we're not going to find anything perfect to use, but just try to find things that aren't like… I don't know, wet feeling," Raph said.

Mikey huffed and did as he was told, matching everything he found to the first log that Raph had discarded.

Soon enough he had a stack of wood piled up on a rock, the only dry safe place he had found to keep them for now. Adding a few more bits to the top of the pile, Mikey decided that he had gathered enough, and turned to ask Raph what he thought, however, he didn't see his hot-headed brother anywhere.

"Raph?" Mikey called out, sure that his brother hadn't gone far.

Mikey started retracing his steps back to where he had last seen Raph. He had only made it a few paces when movement out of the corner of his eye caught Mikey's attention. He was about to call out to his brother but paused, a mischievous grin pulling at his lips as he knelt down, gathering up snow into a well-packed snowball. He had to be quick and quiet about this, or else Raph would hear him walking through the snow.

Keeping his eyes on the clearing just through the trees where he could still see a small amount of movement, Mikey made his way quickly and quietly forward.

Stopping just behind a large tree, Mikey drew his arm back ready to throw the snowball but froze when he didn't see Raph anywhere, instead, he saw about eight or nine deer, grazing away at the only bit of grass that could still be found through the snow.

Mikey stood there, eyes wide as he was almost transfixed by the animals. He could count on one hand the number of times he had seen a deer in his whole life. And with only three fingers on each hand, that was saying something.

"That snowball wouldn't happen to be for me, would it?" Raph whispered in Mikey's ear.

Mikey jumped and screamed, turning around quickly smashing said snowball into Raph's face.

The two of them stood there in silence for a few seconds, before a snicker escaped Mikey, his hand slowly lowering to cover his own mouth, hiding another giggle of laughter that was threatening to escape.

Raph reached up, brushing the snow from his face, eyes narrowed as he looked down at Mikey. The look only seemed to make Mikey laugh even more, though it was still clear the smaller turtle was trying to hold himself back.

"Two can play at that game," Raph said, punching the tree just above Mikey's head before moving out of the way quickly.

The smaller turtle blinked, looking at Raph before his head darted upwards when he heard an ominous creak from the branch above, seconds before a cascade of snow was dumped all over him.

Mikey shrieked, arms reaching back, trying to reach into the top part of his shell.

"Cold! Cold, cold, cold, cold! GAH! Not funny!" Mikey yelped, dancing around.

Raph laughed as the smaller turtle literally stood on his head to make the snow fall out onto the ground.

Falling to the ground, Mikey turned his head to glare at Raph, the red-banded turtle laughing in such a way that Mikey couldn't help but smile. It had been so long since he had seen his brother so relaxed to laugh like that.

"This means war," Mikey warned, jumping back to his feet, two fist fulls of snow in his hands, he threw one then the other.

"Hey!" Raph protested, but he knelt down, gathering up snow to throw it back at Mikey.

The deer had long since scattered, and Mikey ran into the clearing, gathering up more snowballs turning to throw them at Raph, laughing as his brother gave chase, stumbling through the snow as he tried to gather some up while still running.

"Ya little runt! I'm gonna get you!" Raph shouted.

Mikey stuck his tongue out at Raph, before turning to watch where he was running, darting between the trees, jumping up and kicking off a few of them, shaking the snow free from them, getting out of the way before it fell to the ground.

The shout from Raph told Mikey that he had hit his target easily, and he landed to turn and watch his brother dig himself out from under the snow. With a yelp, Mikey suddenly lost his footing, tucking himself into his shell as he slipped on the hill.

"Mikey!" Raph shouted.

Mikey kept himself tucked in his shell, feeling himself bounce off a few trees as he slid further and further down the hill, picking up speed until he felt himself level out, and skidded with a spin-out onto the lake. Popping himself out of his shell again, he laughed as he waited for himself to stop spinning, sitting up and watching as Raph was skidding down the hill on his feet, running out onto the ice.

"Who knew shells made such good sleds!" Mikey grinned at him as the red-banded turtle slid to a stop in front of him.

"You knucklehead!" Raph huffed, leaning over, hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. "What would you have done if the lake wasn't frozen over?"

"Gone for a VERY cold swim," Mikey said.

Raph sighed, bending his head down as he took a deep breath before standing up straight.

"Right, because of course you would." Raph shook his head, holding his hand out towards Mikey to help him back to his feet.

Mikey grinned, taking the offered hand and pulling himself up, slipping and sliding into Raph, whose strong arms wrapped around him and kept him upright.

"Ya okay?" Raph asked.

Mikey blinked, tilting his head upward to stare at Raph, and he couldn't have stopped the blush from coloring his cheeks, even if he had bothered to try.

"Uh, yeah, I'm okay," Mikey said, debating if he should pull away now, or stay there in Raph's unexpected embrace for a few moments longer.

However, his short attention span struck again and Mikey's head tilted back further, staring up at the sky, exposing his neck fully to Raph. Mikey was now focused at the white flakes falling from the sky though, thick puff balls falling around them.

"It's snowing," Mikey said, looking back towards Raph's face, watching his brother as the red-banded turtle frowned, looking up at the sky as well.

"... fuck," Raph sighed. "Come on, let's get back to the bike, we need to get home before this picks up," he said, taking hold of Mikey's hand and leading him off the ice.

Mikey followed after him, the two of them climbing up the hill again, using the trees to help pull themselves up, following their tracks back in the direction they had come from before.

By the time they exited the forest, the snow was falling faster and thicker. Mikey heard Raph curse again. Rushing over to the bike, the red-banded turtle dusted it off from the snow that was slowly piling up on it.

"Raph?" Mikey frowned, heading over to stand next to his brother, glancing up at the sky once more.

"Here, put the helmet back on, if we get moving now, we might be able to keep ahead of the storm before it reaches the city," Raph said, pulling his own helmet on and swinging his leg up over the bike before starting it up.

Mikey did as he was told. Though he was worried about how quickly the snow storm was rolling in, he trusted Raph. Strapping the helmet on Mikey climbed onto the bike behind Raph, wrapping his arms around him tightly.

"Hold on," Raph said, revving the bike before putting the kickstand up. He glanced up at the sky once more as a gust of wind blew past the two of them, causing Mikey to shiver and shift closer to Raph.

Mikey felt rather than heard the annoyed growl his brother let out, before they started moving, the bike sounding much louder in the snow than it had on the drive up.

Remaining silent as they rode down the hill, Mikey let Raph concentrate on where they were going, glancing over Raph's shoulder, biting his lip when he could hardly see where they were going due to the snow. However, he did notice how much was starting to pile up on the road, and he was almost sure he felt the bike slip somewhat dangerously.

The chill was settling into his skin even faster now, causing Mikey to shiver as he gripped Raph tighter, trying to steal even a small amount of his brother's warmth. Hard to do when they were both cold-blooded reptiles.

Fifteen minutes on the bike and Mikey couldn't feel his toes anymore.

The bike slowed to a stop and the engine was cut off again. Mikey blinked, looking around, spotting a small shack nearby.

"What's that?" Mikey asked, getting off the bike slowly, ignoring how much his limbs hurt from the cold.

"It's a small hunting shack," Raph explained, wheeling his bike over to the side of the building, grabbing an old tarp and draping it over the machine. "Come on, let's get inside and start a fire."

Mikey nodded, hurrying over to Raph as the red-banded turtle opened the door, allowing Mikey inside first before following him, closing and locking the door behind him.

"See if there is any paper around or something, I'm going to get some firewood and start stacking it inside," Raph said, pulling off his helmet and setting it by the door.

Mikey nodded his head, starting with the cabinets and working his way around the small room, finding some old newspapers and a phonebook.

"Dude, who the shell uses phone books anymore?" Mikey asked himself with a chuckle as he grabbed the thick book, bringing it back to the fireplace and sitting down.

A shiver ran up his spine as his bare ass touched the floor. Shrugging out of his coat, Mikey put it on the floor. He scooted back to sit on it before opening the phone book and starting to flip through it.

"Let's see, whose names should I burn…" Mikey contemplated to himself as he flipped from one page to another. "Smith… there are WAY too many Smith's in here," Mikey said, ripping the page from the phone book, stacking them in a pile, before skipping back to earlier section. "Anderson, there's a lot of you too, why don't you join Smith,"

"What are you doing?"

Raph's voice made Mikey jump, the orange-banded turtle tilting his head back to look at Raph.

"Welcome back, you get your wood?" he asked.

Raph snorted, carrying the stack over to the fireplace before dropping it, one of the logs rolling off and onto the pile of papers Mikey was still adding to. The younger turtle suddenly screamed and Raph jerked up to look at his brother.

"Dude! You just killed Anderson and Smith!" Mikey exclaimed, pulling the papers out from under the log.

Raph relaxed, rolling his eyes at his brother. "You're such an idiot," he said.

Mikey grinned at the fondness in his brother's tone before the red-banded turtle turned his shell to him again. Mikey continued ripping out pages of the phonebook, stacking them with the first lot, until he had enough to keep feeding the fire to get it started.

"Why don't you make yourself more useful, go get another stack of wood, we'll take turns bringing it in," Raph said.

"Aye, aye, Mr president!" Mikey saluted, jumping to his feet and rushing out of the cabin. The door slammed behind him as he ran out into the snow.

-x

Mikey knew he had spent far too long outside. Collecting wood should not have taken this long but the snow falling had been so light and fluffy, it had captured the turtle's attention. He had gone as far as to make himself a small snow-turtle, and a turtle-angle.

However, the numbness in his fingers and toes had now spread up his limbs, making it almost impossible to carry the stack of wood Raph had sent him to get. He managed it, barely, but didn't have use of his fingers to open the door. Kicking it sent a sharp pain through his toe, but seemed to do the trick as it opened.

"Mikey?" Raph asked, eyes wide as his brother stumbled passed him and dropped the wood to the floor. "What the shell took you so long? I was startin' ta wonder if you'd wandered off…"

Raph trailed off, good thing too because Mikey wasn't paying attention to him as he made his way over to the small fire Raph had managed to start.

"Ya went out there without your coat didn't ya? Fuck," Raph cursed, not waiting for a response from his brother as he stomped over to the fire and threw a couple more logs onto it, while Mikey sat down on the floor.

Mikey still couldn't feel his fingers or toes, though he glanced at Raph, managing to grin at him all the same.

"It's snowing out," he stated.

"No shit," Raph huffed.

"We don't get to play in the snow, so… I wanted to build a snowman… well, snow turtle, but I think his shell fell off, or maybe that was his head I tripped over, I dunno, they both sort of looked the same." He chuckled.

"We're cold-blooded, Mikey! There's a thousand reasons why we don't play in the snow often and that's at least in the top five!" Raph sapped. "Leo's gonna lose his shit if ya get sick from this unscheduled outing… Fuck, forget Leo, I bet Splinter is gonna ground us for a month!"

"We had a snowball fight," Mikey pointed out.

"Yeah, we did, and we both started ta freeze out there, that's why we're waiting out the storm in here, knucklehead," Raph pointed out, poking at the logs on the fire, causing the fire to burn brighter. "Right now isn't the time for fun and games, this is serious," Raph grumbled, taking Mikey's frozen hands in his own and rubbing them together, trying to generate some warmth.

"Bro, I love you, but I'm totally voting you off the island," Mikey said through chattering teeth as he tilted his head to look at his brother. "Besides, we're gonna have to deal with Donnie before we even encounter Leo or Splinter," he pointed out, gaining another string of colorful curses from Raph.

"Sit here, cover up, and don't move," Raph said, standing up.

"The floor is cold," Mikey whined, smiling when he felt the warmth of Raph's jacket being draped over him. He wrapped his arms around himself, clutching at the leather and pulling it close. It smelt like his brother and it warmed him in a way the fire never could.

Mikey was unsure how long he sat there, staring into the flames, watching them dance and move. Fire always reminded him of Raph, some would assume it was because of his fiery temper, but Mikey saw it as more than that. The way his brother moved was like fire, his fighting style, rough and sharp, yet it somehow worked. It was a fine balance, making sure you poked the fire just enough to make sure it didn't go out, but not enough to actually get burnt when the flames lashed out.

Mikey had learned long ago how to tend to Raph's inner fire. He never tried to contain it like Leo did, or control it like Splinter wanted, even though Mikey knew they both had the best intentions he also knew Raph was at his best when he was allowed to burn brightly.

Arms suddenly wrapped around him from behind and Mikey jerked slightly, turning his head sharply to blink at Raph.

"Come on, Mikey, talk ta me," Raph said, his arms pulling the turtle back, his legs moving to wrap around Mikey's waist.

"Did you get more wood?" Mikey asked and he felt the air from Raph's sigh ghost over his neck, sending a shiver down his spine that had nothing to do with the chill he had caught outside.

"Are ya tryin' ta give me a heart attack?" Raph snapped, his chin resting on Mikey's shoulder as his arms tightened around him.

"...what did I do this time?" Mikey frowned, as far as he knew he had only been sitting there.

Raph huffed, his hands rubbing over Mikey's arms. "I came back, tried ta talk to ya, and ya just sat there. I thought something was wrong with ya!"

"Oh… no, I'm sorry, I was just thinking," Mikey admitted.

Raph snorted. "Well, that's a first."

Mikey smiled, letting the insult slide, knowing Raph didn't mean anything by it. "I've decided, I'm not going to vote you off the island after all," the orange-banded turtle admitted.

Raph sighed again, nuzzling against Mikey's cheek, causing the younger turtle to giggle and nuzzle back. "For the record, I wouldn't vote you off either," Raph said, his voice a bit rough.

Mikey blinked, tilting his head to look at his brother.

Mikey wasn't sure what possessed him to do it, maybe the cold had affected more than his fingers and toes, or perhaps it was simply due to the fact that he had been in close proximity to his brother for most of the night. Whatever the reason, Mikey leaned a little closer to Raph, his lips brushing against his brother's.

He felt Raph's breath hitch, and the older turtle pulled away slightly, eyes wide as he stared at Mikey.

Mikey tried to read Raph's expression, tried to figure out what the fire in his eyes meant. Shock was one of the emotions that crossed Raph's face, that one was easy to tell, simply because it was such a foreign expression.

"... what was that?" Raph finally asked.

Mikey's cheeks turned slightly pink but he grinned at Raph just the same.

"Well, I'm no pro or anything, but I THOUGHT it was a kiss," Mikey said.

Raph snorted and shook his head.

"That, Mikey, was no kiss," Raph said.

Mikey's smile faded. However, before he could say or do anything else, Raph's lips were suddenly on his own, one hand moving up to cup the back of his head, holding him in place, the calloused fingers gently rubbing against his skin, and Raph's tongue was forcing its way into his mouth.

A shiver ran down Mikey's spine, straight to his tail that started thumping against the floor. He opened his mouth wider, inviting Raph in, his own tongue fighting back against Raph's, trying to copy every move he made, every brush and swirling motion he made.

Mikey whimpered, his own hand reaching up to grip at Raph's arm, his nails digging into the green skin. And heaven help him, he couldn't sit still. He pressed his feet against the floor, trying to press himself back against Raph, wanting to feel more of him, wanting every inch of Raph's body to be touching his own.

A deep moan came from Raph and Mikey echoed it with a higher pitched one of his own.

His eyes were clenched shut as these new feelings threatened to overwhelm him. It was at that moment Raph broke the kiss, leaving the orange-banded turtle sitting there, gasping as he tried to catch his breath and put his thoughts in order again.

"Okay… yeah… um… that was definitely a kiss…" Mikey admitted, cheeks flushed.

Raph chuckled, and Mikey felt his brother pulling away. Letting out an involuntary noise of distress, his hands gripped at Raph's arm tighter.

"Easy, I'm just putting more wood on the fire," he said, kissing the top of Mikey's head.

He tossed another log into the fireplace, poking it around with a stick before joining Mikey on the floor again, pulling the smaller turtle closer once more.

The two of them sat in silence, staring at the flames, listening to the wind howling outside. The peaceful moment was broken by the sound of a phone ringing, and Mikey blinked, looking around to try and locate the source.

"Yo," Raph said.

Mikey turned around to stare at his brother, who had pulled his T-phone from God-only-knows-where.

"Yeah, we're fine, got caught in the storm, we're staying in that old hunters' cabin. Yeah, no rush, stay inside, pick us up tomorrow," Raph said, chuckling at whatever the other person on the phone said. "Right, see ya then," he said and hung up the phone.

"You had your PHONE with you!?" Mikey asked, once his brother put the device down. "The whole time?"

"Well, yeah, better that than listening to fearless bitch about me leavin' it at home all the time," Raph told him with a grin.

"... so… wait, if you had your phone, you could have just called Donnie or Leo at any time? We're not actually stranded here?" Mikey questioned. "I'm beginning to think you planned all this." Mikey huffed, turning back around to face the fire, arms crossed over his chest.

Raph chuckled, leaning forward and wrapping his arms around Mikey. "Well, I didn't plan the kiss," he said, and Mikey smiled, tilting his head back to lean on Raph's shoulder, closing his eyes.


End file.
